Update 1.2 of Kerbal Space Program is here, and if you've spent the last few years shouting at your Kerbals through a couple of tin cans and a really long bit of string, you'll be very excited by its headline feature: the ability to establish communication networks. You can remote control vehicles, use satellites to scan terrain, and build relay networks so you can science faster and harder; the update also chucks in better vehicle controls and a redesigned fuel system. It's pretty big, basically.

The full patch notes are here, but the gist is that the Loud and Clear update includes the "introduction of CommNet and KerbNet, a rewrite of the Stability Assist System (SAS) that makes your launches more accurate and fuel efficient, an engine change from Unity 5.2 to 5.4, more tweakable options for many parts, a complete fuel system redesign, and much more!"

The patch is live now on Steam and the Kerbal Space Program store (not coincidentally, the game is also currently discounted at both places), and will be coming "soon" to GOG and other sellers. Here's a trailer:

“Beep beep beep beep,” said Leonard Nimoy, imitating his favourite piece of space hardware. But what is one voice in the vast night sky? You want yourself a satellite network, Len my son. That’s the focus of update 1.2 for Kerbal Space Program [official site], which launched last night. It lets players link satellites and other hardware to bounce and boost signals all over, and also use satellites to map terrain. Oh, and the update makes your wheeled vehicles and flying vehicles more stable, less prone to wonky physics explosions – unless that’s what you really want, of course. … [visit site to read more]

Kerbals hit a milestone, they are now interconnected and they can hear you Loud and Clear! Let your imagination fly with new possibilities, build communication networks, control vehicles remotely and explore every inch of the Kerbol System in ways that weren’t possible before with this new update!

Kerbal Space program 1.2: Loud and Clear includes a broad range of improvements and features that will enrich the overall game experience, such as the introduction of CommNet and KerbNet, a rewrite of the Stability Assist System (SAS) that makes your launches more accurate and fuel efficient, an engine change from Unity 5.2 to 5.4, more tweakable options for many parts, a complete fuel system redesign, and much more!

Here are some of the highlights for this update:

CommNetSet up your own communications networks and have better control over your probes even when they cannot establish a direct connection. Link your probes back to Kerbin via an antenna to be completely autonomous and build relay networks for better science transmission!

KerbNetUse satellites for reconnaissance purposes, scan the terrain below you, find biomes and anomalies, and place custom waypoints with a targeting interface.

Improved Fuelflow SystemThe Fuelflow system has been rewritten and now you have total control over how the fuel flows through your vessels!

Improved WheelsThe stability of Wheels has been greatly improved. Your rovers, wheeled vehicles will now turn and handle smoothly, making the overall driving experience more pleasant. Aircraft are also more stable, and all wheels have realistic load limits.

Update 1.2 has finished its Experimentals phase and we’re excited to announce the launch of the Public Pre-release.

During Experimental testing a small team of experienced KSP players threw everything they’ve got at the game in order to help us catch as many bugs as possible, so that we could make the game as stable as it could be. Now we’re proud to say that’ve come to the point where we can finally release the open test build.

This ‘pre-release’ test build is for everyone to have a go before we officially released the update and you’ll be able to opt-in to get the Pre-release builds via the Steam betas, or, for the first time ever, through the KSP Store. Naturally, you’ll need own a copy the game beforehand in order to access these builds. This opt-in branch will run for a minimum of two full weeks before the release date of the final update (the final release date hasn’t been closed, so changes may occur).

To facilitate discussions of the Pre-release branch we’ll be opening up a temporary sub-forum for feedback. Additionally, a Pre-release project will be made available on the bug tracker to report bugs on.

Furthermore, we want to help the modding community by making the modding API public. Click this link and enjoy!

Finally, and as promised, you can get Porkjet’s awesome rocket parts package files here .

We’re almost there and we couldn’t be more excited. Stay tuned for updates and happy launchings!

It s hard to picture space without getting a bit romantic and philosophical. Looking up at the stars is arguably humanity s oldest form of entertainment. Space reminds us who we are, who we were, and who we re trying to be. Space gives us distance and perspective from our pale blue dot, and it invites us to our most dangerous challenges.

A lot of our favorite games are set in space, and it s no coincidence that many of those games are absurdly gorgeous. We want to look at beautiful space pictures all the time, so we rounded up the best shots on the web and brought them all to one place.

Some of these pictures have run on PC Gamer before, usually captured by screenshot maestro Andy Kelly in pixel-boosted4K glory. We found others by crawling through subreddits and Steam community groups in search of awe-inspiring starships and nebulas. All of them are worthy of adorning your desktop.

Update 1.2 has just entered Experimentals! We’re eager to finally start the next phase of testing and getting ever closer to the 1.2 release.

During experimental testing a crack team of experienced and hand-picked KSP players will throw everything they’ve got at the game to make it bend, blend and break in many ways. The goal is to catch as many bugs as we can, and to make the game as stable as it can be before we make a public test build available.

Those of you who’ve been around for the 1.1 update will remember that we released a ‘pre-release’ test build for everyone to have a go before we officially released the update, and for update 1.2 we plan to do the same thing. Once the pre-release builds are available you’ll only be able to opt-in via the Steam betas, or through the KSP store.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about the coming weeks. Stay tuned for updates and Fly Safe!

To get a jump start on No Man s Sky s space sandbox, some of our staff are playing the game on PS4 this week. Read more of our different opinions on the game as we continue to play.

My journey in No Man's Sky has so far been like going to a thrift store and rooting through people's discarded things looking for a hidden treasure. As my hyperspeed drive disengages and the fluctuating aurora of light before me dissipates, I take a moment to absorb my surroundings. I see three planets around a glowing yellow sun in this system. I pick the somewhat evil-looking red planet to disembark on. Entering its atmosphere, the spire of an alien obelisk juts out of the crimson dirt. Setting my ship down, I hop out and for what must be the twentieth time tonight interact with one of No Man's Sky's supposed mysteries. I collect my prize, a new word from an alien dialect, and hop back in my ship to head towards the next odd-but-not-that-odd thing on the horizon.

Space exploration games like No Man's Sky have a problem: How do you capture that 'Star Trek' feeling of launching into the great unknown in a universe that is ultimately populated by recognizable patterns? It's a tough nut to crack, and in the past few years games like No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous have been trying to leverage the weight of massive galaxies to do just that. With so many places to see, the the excitement of exploring shouldn't come from what you discover, but in the story of how you found it.

Deep space blues

Last year I installed Elite Dangerous for the one purpose of becoming an explorer. I had read of the incredible mission players had undertaken to map Elite's Milky Way galaxy and, being an EVE Online player with a passion for logistics and planning, felt drawn to the idea of embarking on a great journey to planets unknown.

I spent over 30 hours learning how to play Elite Dangerous and earning enough credits to afford my first exploration ship. I perused subreddits and forums to learn the basics like needing to equip a fuel scoop module so that I could use stars to refuel and avoid being stranded billions of lightyears from civilization. During all this prep time, I was anticipating my epic voyage to the Coalsack Nebula, an ominous black cloud far outside the bubble of inhabited systems. I imagined it was going to be the first of many progressively longer voyages. As I finalized my route and began my first jump, it felt like stepping into the abyss.

No Man's Sky doesn't require any investment in my journey.

That feeling didn't last. With each jump from one system to the next, with each break to skim fuel blowing like a hot breeze from the surface of a star, I began to feel less and less enchanted with my idea of what exploration meant in Elite Dangerous. Over an hour later I reached my destination, a system named Musca Dark Region CQ-Y D68, and couldn't help but look back at my 30-plus hours in Elite Dangerous as time poorly spent. That system, and the several dozen others I visited in the Coalsack Nebula before calling it quits, didn't contain anything of interest or worth. It was just a smattering of planets no different from the ones back home. If it wasn't for the map telling me otherwise, I would never have known I was 500 light years away. I logged off not even having the will to make the return trip home.

Journeys and destinations

As I thought through that disappointment, I realized it wasn't just that my goal the Coalsack Nebula had nothing of interest for me, but also that the journey that led me there was equally as unfulfilling. The only real challenge was managing my fuel levels and making sure I didn't wind up stranded in a solar system with a star that I couldn't use to recharge a mistake that would result in self-destructing back to civilized space. But even refuelling was more of a chore than a challenge.

No Man's Sky certainly has a lot more stuff waiting for me in each solar system than Elite Dangerous. But while I've enjoyed my time with it, I can already sense a creeping lack of enthusiasm for whatever awaits me in the next system. A planet might have a unique color or landscape, it might be populated with some strange animal I've never seen before, but beyond knee-jerk curiosity, neither feels like a satisfying conclusion to the journey that brought me there.

As I land on the planet surface and begin to explore, all I'm finding are the same minerals, the same procedurally generated alien installations, and the same ruins dotting the landscape. Each one is, ostensibly, a destination worth traveling too, but as I arrive at one after the other, it feels more like hitting up the grocery store and post office on the way home from work than discovering places unknown. It feels routine and safe.

That's because, like Elite Dangerous, No Man's Sky doesn't require any investment in my journey. While warping to new systems is a more involved process than in Elite, the reality is I'm still just acquiring easy to find resources and then pushing a few buttons to blast off to a new frontier. There's no skill to navigating space or charting a course, no appreciable increase in the difficulty of harvesting the same minerals to fuel my ship. And as a result, there hasn't been that moment of triumph, of feeling like I've conquered the inhuman hostility of space. There's no sense of adventure. No Man's Sky trivializes the journey in order to focus on the reward a strange alien or a neat upgrade and in doing so makes neither feel like an achievement.

To the Mun

Kerbal Space Program and No Man's Sky don't aspire to the same goals, but there's a lot that can be learned from the dopey little kerbals and their obsession with dying on other planets. Compared to No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous, Kerbal Space Program's planets are barren, waxy balls of nothing. Yet the moment I landed my first kerbal on the 'Mun' (moon), I really felt like a little green Neil Armstrong making one giant leap for kerbalkind.

While Kerbal Space Program is more obsessed with the technical mastery of engineering rather than exploring the far reaches of a galaxy, it's also been the one game that has given me that sense of adventure I so desperately want from No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous. Kerbal Space program cares little about what awaits me on its boring planets but invests everything in making sure that getting there is a struggle for the ages. Whether I'm correcting orbital trajectories, plotting slingshot maneuvers between planets, or panicking as I design a rescue mission to save a stranded kerbal, each one has me painfully aware of the stakes. When I completed my first successful Mun landing, I felt like I had conquered more than the millions of miles in between but my own expectations of what I thought I could achieve. I felt like an explorer.

With 1.8 quintillion planets to Kerbal's seven, No Man's Sky is desperately lacking that same tension. Unlike Kerbal, there's no anchor to ground the whole experience, no moment where I look back and see my homeworld behind me and feel awe for how hard won each and every mile I've come has been. Without that sense of scale, that understanding of the enormity of things and the challenge it'll take to overcome them, I don't feel like I'm stepping out into a vast universe. I feel like I'm flipping through an endless coffee table book it's aesthetically pleasing but ultimately unaffecting. With 1.8 quintillion planets, the question I'm beginning to ask isn't which one I should explore next, but why should I even care?

It s a format break! This week, Samuel, Andy, Phil and Chris run through some of their personal picks for the PC Gamer Top 100 our annual list that definitely makes everybody happy and not mad at us. What did they vote for? Why did they vote for it? And which game lets you hold two fistfuls of iron wank?